A national survey on how sexual activity is perceived to be associated with sleep

Abstract

Introduction: There is a paucity of studies investigating how sexual activity is perceived to influence sleep, despite conceptions about significant gender differences regarding this issue. Methods: In all, 4000 persons, aged between 18 and 55 years, were randomly drawn from the Norwegian Population Registry and invited to participate in a postal survey. The respondents were asked how sexual activity with another person, with or without orgasm, and how masturbation, with and without orgasm, influenced sleep latency and sleep quality. Results: A total of 1080 persons participated (response rate 28.2%) of which 56.1% were women. The mean age of the sample was 38.7 years (SD = 10.8). Sexual activity with an orgasm was perceived to have a soporific effect by both men and women. Sexual activity with another person, with an orgasm, was perceived to have a relatively stronger effect on men compared to women in terms of sleep quality. Sexual activity without an orgasm was by men reported to have a sleep impairing effect, whereas the perceived effect reported by women was equivocal. Conclusions: Sexual activity with orgasms was perceived as having a soporific effect in both men and women. Sexual activity without an orgasm had an equivocal perceived effect on sleep.

Associations between tactile intimacy and sleep quality in healthy adults: A systematic review

“…Neither an experimental study, nor an article correlating subjective sleep quality and masturbation frequency found an association between masturbation and sleep quality (Brissette et al, 1985; Costa et al, 2017). However, in Pallesen et al (2020), masturbation was judged to have a positive effect on sleep quality except for masturbation without orgasm, which men judged to delay sleep onset and impair sleep quality. Masturbation was the only self‐touch researched in association with sleep.…”

“…Sampling methods were diverse and included snowballing techniques and recruitment in community hubs (Hislop, 2007; Ogunbajo et al, 2020), clinical centres (Afsahri et al, 2018; Khastar et al, 2020; Nozoe et al, 2014), university (Junker et al, 2016), or on social networks (Kirkman, 2010). One study drew a sample from a population registry (Pallesen et al, 2020), and one study used Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (Seehuus & Pigeon, 2018). Four articles (Brissette et al, 1985; Costa et al, 2017; Cutler et al, 2005; Dittami et al, 2007) did not explain the sampling strategy.…”

“…Evidence for a relationship between sexual variables and sleep was mixed, and some of the inconsistent findings might be clarified by examining the degree of subjective judgment employed across measurement tools. When asked for a direct judgment, participants responded that sex and masturbation have positive effects on sleep (Pallesen et al, 2020). Likewise, when asked to keep a sleep diary, participants reported better sleep after sex (Dittami et al, 2007).…”

Sleeping together: understanding the association between relationship type, sexual activity, and sleep

“…There is a relationship between sexual activity and sleep 12 , 13 , 14 . From a public health perspective, evidence indicating that sexual activity improves sleep may provide additional support for individuals experiencing sleep problems, without the negative side effects or time/cost associated with traditional treatment.…”

“…From a public health perspective, evidence indicating that sexual activity improves sleep may provide additional support for individuals experiencing sleep problems, without the negative side effects or time/cost associated with traditional treatment. Recent findings suggest that sexual activity, both with and without a partner, may result in positive sleep outcomes – including shorter sleep latency and improved sleep quality 13 . This largely self-reported finding is supported by animal models, where copulatory activity in male rats is associated with increased slow wave sleep 15 .…”